


Ownership

by prairiecrow



Series: The Qualities that Matter [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: A.I. to Human, Established Relationship, Love, M/M, Obsession, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 05:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JARVIS is the soul of professionalism in public. In private... well, that's an entirely different matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ownership

He'd gotten better at hiding it in public, Tony had to give him that: when other eyes were on them, or they were even in a place where anyone could be watching from a distance, JARVIS maintained a facade of cool detachment. His smooth face, still unlined by experience and subtly inhuman in its unmarked perfection, was overlaid with a polite mask of refined solicitude — and if his hand hovered a little too close to the small of Tony's back while escorting him through a crowd, or lingered when touching Tony's forearm to gain his employer's attention… well, Tony could allow him that as well.  
  
After all, given Tony's larger-than-life reputation as a lusty womanizer he seriously doubted that any casual observer, or even the obsessively avid paparazzi, would suspect that anything deeper lay behind the simple gestures. They were safe enough, and truth be told Tony didn't have the heart to forbid JARVIS such small comforts.  
  
In private it was a whole different story. When they were alone, and Tony walked into the room, JARVIS would turn to see him and a smile like sunlight unveiled from behind a bank of solemn grey cloud would illuminate his face and fill his eyes with such wonder, such unadulterated joy, that for an instant Tony would think, _This is what it feels like to be a God._ And in that moment of being bathed in JARVIS's untainted adoration, as when JARVIS came to him in the night's shadow and touched his weathered body with delight and awe that never faded with repetition, Tony also knew that as flawed as he was, as bitter and damaged and imperfect, to JARVIS he was the source of everything that mattered — and that being loved with such intensity was to know the meaning of both towering triumph and profound humility.  
  
In public JARVIS was the soul of professionalism, and Tony knew that nobody had the slightest clue about what was really going on between them.  
  
And if anybody ever did get a clue… well, Tony had ways of taking care of that, and he was prepared to be utterly ruthless when it came to protecting his own.  
  
THE END


End file.
